About us
DRIZZI TECHNOLOGIES
showcasing effective water irrigation solutions for industry, communities, business and home
Introduction
Patrick Jee started working on his water irrigation ideas several years ago, always fueled by his aim to:
"To
provide the world with an accessible and sustainable use of water, to
benefit from its outcome, and to share the benefits with disadvantaged
agricultural communities"
One morning, our founder Patrick Jee came across a cup of tea steeping in his kitchen. Perhaps not a strange occurrence, but what drew his attention on this particular morning was the puddle of tea that had formed on the counter next to the teacup. Upon closer inspection, Patrick noticed the drawstring from the teabag was conveying droplets of tea over the edge of the teacup and onto the counter, one drop at a time.
At first he could not figure out how this was happening unassisted, but soon his powers of deduction revealed to him that gravity was encouraging a continuous flow of tea along the string and onto the counter. This simple idea, so perfectly illustrated by the image of the teacup and the puddle, started to turn the gears in Patrick’s mind towards other applications for this natural liquid transportation phenomenon.
More than four years of sketching, dabbling and prototyping later, Patrick created the Drizzi Drip System®, his innovative drop-by-drop irrigation system that aims to cut water waste while helping gardens everywhere to thrive. Using the same principles of gravity and water dispersion, his invention is proving that low-tech options can be just as effective (if not more so) than technologically advanced solutions that are expensive to set up and difficult to maintain. As an avid gardener and passionate advocate for responsible water use, Patrick strives for his invention to re frame the way that both commercial and home gardeners think of irrigation and in so doing save billions of liters of water from going to waste every year.
Meet our founder
architect, entrepreneur, social work, inventor
Our founder, Patrick John Jee, was born in Sibu, a little town outside of Sarawak, Malaysia, in 1951. He is the oldest son and second among seven siblings. Looking back on his childhood, he treasures fond memories of helping his mother around the house and learning to cook at a young age. Even as a child, Patrick’s inquisitive nature and active imagination kept him occupied for hours, making up fantastical games with his friends and siblings and crafting simple tools and toys out of wood.
In 1968, the then 17-year-old Patrick flew to Adelaide, Australia to attend St Michael’s Henley Beach in South Australia. This presented the ideal opportunity for his curious mind to experience a culture and climate completely different from anything he had seen before. He thrived in Australia, making lifelong friends and going on to receive his Diploma of Architecture from the University of Adelaide in 1975.
Following a major recession in 1976, Patrick moved to Melbourne to work at an architectural firm and gain experience. Before long, he started his own architectural partnership with two friends, the success of which would see him working with various firms as an in-house architect over the span of 15 years. He married his wife, Francesca, in 1981.
Seeking a change of pace, Patrick bought a joinery practice in 1996. This line of work proved to be a great match for his hands-on problem solving skills. In 2010, he retired from full-time work in order to focus on his hobbies and pursue his passions, which include church fellowship, volunteering, the dramatic arts and gardening.
Since 2015 Patrick has devoted all of his time and energy into developing Drizzi, his vision for a sustainable, simple and efficient drip irrigation system. When he is not spending quality time with his wife and family, Patrick can be found in his R&D workshop, uncovering new ways to streamline irrigation and make sustainable water use the norm.
Patrick Jee hard at work
Here is Patrick doing countless hours of R&D. Lots of trial designs, prototypes and field tests in trying to master the drop-by-drop solution for watering plants.
Many a "Eureka moment" would get Patrick jumping on his work bench trying to make the sparks of ideas come to live!
Drizzi Knot-Peg Dripper
An ingenious, simple and efficient method of delivering a regular amount of water directly to your plants 24/7. The rate of delivery can be adjusted to the plant's needs.
Simplicity is using readily available materials with a Green foot-print.
Drizzi dripper
This Drizzi in-line cut off valve dripper is a highly responsive drip controller. It can be deployed directly to the base of the plant.
Using a cottage-based manufacturing approach, this Drizzi dripper can be produced within a cottage industry thus providing work for rural communities.
It is the objective of Drizzi Technologies to openly share the design principles in creating simple, yet effective drip-by-drip watering solutions to the home and residential users. The solutions will always focus on "Green" principles using recycled or sustainable materials.
Dripper design
A prototype float valve, utilising a bamboo chopstick with a cut off plunger. A fun project to challenge the use of everyday objects to create a functional constant level reservoir.
Using a hot nail and a box cutter it was possible to construct a workable drip system.
A simple, more efficient system has since been developed. This is be released in the future.
Stepped Vertical Garden
A drip system consisting of raking pipes fitted with specially designed nozzles allows for watering of the plants twice daily.
Small reservoir of water are created against each drip nozzle to retain water creating a drip to each of the plants.
Three large water containers are located above the plants, ganged together to provide water for a longer period of time.
A float valve reservoir is housed within the black box. A continuous constant drip is achieved by means of wick-ed tubing which drips into a secondary chamber (bottle).
A bell-siphon discharge provides a measured flow of water twice daily. Once in the morning and then at dusk. (Look out for my upcoming eBook!)
Garden Spike Dripper
Stand alone bottle dripper mounted within a poly pipe DIY spike holder.
Garden Spike Dripper
Stand alone bottle dripper mounted within a poly pipe DIY spike holder.
Bottles of various sizes can be ganged together to provide for prolonged watering by increasing the water storage capacity
Vertical tube planter with a drip system
Vertical pipe garden with 18 plants fed by an integrated drip system
Cherry Bush Drip Fed
Cherry plant connected to a drip system
Garden planting
Garden serviced by a gravity fed drip system with fertigation incorporated
Vertical garden under construction
Installing drip pipes to a wire mesh wall garden
Vertical garden
Completed wall garden: Each row is serviced by a horizontal tube which continuously dispenses water on a regulated basis through small dripper directed to each individual plants
Rainwater Tanks
Ganged 100 litre rainwater wall mounted capable of watering plants anywhere in the property boundary including overhead planters.
Vertical Wall Garden Close-up
Installation of drip tubing to a vertical wall garden. Float discharge reservoir is housed within the black box (top right hand corner).
Waterfall valves are installed at each downward inflection points so as to create a reservoir of water along each horizontal run.
Special wick-ed tubings discharge water to each individual plants.
The run-off is carried and discharged to a grounded plant.
Multi-feed distributor
R&D stage - now superseded
Integrated Pot Watering System
A radial system of dripper heads to distribute water evenly within the pot. Only the intake tubing is visible above the soil level.
Vertical garden plants
Selecting the plants for the vertical garden. What a job and so many to choose from, all lovely!
Test-bench for drip-by-drip system
Collection of plants on a test rig with a variety of different drip nozzles.
